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[Plonky]

The problem with the current game modes is that they encourage splitting up and avoiding the enemy, rather than moving together and fighting. The enjoyable part of MWO is team based mech combat, yet often the activity that is most rewarded is standing inside squares. Although you want to go out and fight, you need to be aware that you may have to walk off to the corner of the map and stand in a square for a while to avoid losing on "points".

Conquest

The conquest game mode is ostensibly focused around map control. You win by holding more key areas of the map than the enemy. But slower mechs, and especially assault mechs, are too immobile to apply pressure to any capture point other than the middle one, lest they risk spending too much time uselessly plodding along the edge of the map. Some of the nodes, especially on the bigger maps, are so far away that the heavier mechs couldn't get to them even if they wanted to.

The capture game is a game for lights and fast mediums. Heavier mechs can't participate because they're too slow, which means that all the slow fatties will be fighting in one location while the rest of the map is owned by the lights (or no-one).

For fast mechs, if you are committed to winning by caps, there is rarely a need to engage the enemy. There are enough capture nodes, and the nodes are far enough away from each other (and the heavies/assaults), that the lights can simply run around the map standing inside squares for the entire match, and perhaps never ever see another mech. Light mechs are in many ways encouraged to avoid the middle of the map, because that's where all the big mechs will be. Often, the place that a light can be most useful for a team is standing inside a square in some obscure corner of the map.

This creates a situation where your team can win the battle (the fun bit) but lose the game because the enemy lights were more prudent with standing inside squares. Often there is no recourse for a team of slow mechs if they are losing on points, even if they have all but destroyed the enemy team.

A team wishing to abuse the flaws of conquest will pick all light mechs and avoid the enemy while capping. They will win against any normal team composition because they will always have more capture points. If the enemy spread out to take multiple nodes, they will fall prey to a mass of fast moving lights.

The capture nodes don't represent useful tactical ground and aren't locations worth holding. Most of the time you will move on immediately after capping, perhaps never to return. So there is no point in "defending" a node - the job that heavies and assaults do well.

Assault

A similar problem occurs in assault. The heavies are too slow to get back to base and defend it in time, and even if they do, they won't be able to get back into a good position on the map afterwards. There is no good way to prevent an enemy from capping your base and still be a part of the battle, because the distance between your base and the middle of the map is too large, and the mechs move too slowly.

Again, if played "to win", the best strategy is almost never to fight.

A Suggested Fix for Conquest

Remove the "base" nodes. This will encourage a more defined battle line and reduces the distance mechs need to travel to capture points. Less nodes and will increase the likelihood that the teams will fight over them, and increase the value of defending. The teams will more or less be forced to engage.

A Suggested Fix for Assault

Remove the base nodes and instead make a single node in the center of the map. Remove the piece of machinery so that it is more exposed and make it a central area so that standing in it entails putting yourself at risk. The team which holds the ground around the point will have an advantage in capturing it. Make the the capture time long enough that a team needs to stand in it for several minutes before winning, making it hard to "rush" a win. Essentially make standing in the node a win condition only to avoid a stalemate due to a mech powering down in the corner of the map and waiting for the timer to tick down. Perhaps make the node capture faster the more enemy mechs you've destroyed.

How these new modes will likely play out.

Both of these changes will more or less force the teams together, but still allow for tactical diversity. The objectives for both teams are close together, but there are multiple angels that the teams can engage from. The games will be less random, because the important combat areas of the map are also the important victory condition areas.

How this will effect lights and assaults

There is a risk that making the battle more focused will emphasize the power of the heavier mechs while reducing the size of the role lighter mechs can take on, especially with the "Assault" game mode. I think there is still a role for lighter mechs in this game type however. With battle lines more well defined, flanking should be more important.